Apparatus for attaching a front-wheel fork to a head pipe in a two-wheeled vehicle or the like

ABSTRACT

A front-wheel fork of a two-wheel vehicle carries upper and lower bridge members adapted for detachably engaging opposite ends of a core end projecting from a head pipe. The bridge members have central openings with lateral grooves in which the ends of the rod can be introduced and removed, and selectively locked by means of positioning members on the rod which engage in the central openings and interlock with the bridge members.

[451 July 11,1972

United States Patent Kobayashi 668,546 2/1901 Sutherland.........280/279 FRONT-WHEEL FORK TO A HEAD 3,398,983 8/1968 Olsson.....280/515 X 3,432,214 3/1969 Cashman et al.. ...287/100 X WHEELEDVEHICLE 3,507,516 4/1970 Fritz ......280/279 3,015,498 2/1962 Tanaka eta1. ...........1.....280/278 [72] Inventor: Yozaburo Kobayashl, Tokyo,Japan FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPL] C ONS [54] APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING A [73]Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha,

280/287 Belgium.................................280/279 m m m" wmm aummmi ee GNR 6422 9465 8999 1111 WW07 6358 2807 1 ,7 3 72 994 2 65 6 9 m 6P9 3 I J o m V. m T

.m k H 2 2 Primary Examiner-Benjamin Hersh Assistant ExaminerJohn P.Silverstrim 2'1 Appl. No.: 885,531

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 16, 1968 ABSTRACT Afront-wheel fork of a two-wheel vehicle carries upper and lo [52] US.Cl..... .............280/278, 280/514, 287/100,

51 lm. 15/00 Wer bridge members adapted for detachably engaging P- 58Field of Search..................280/278, 279, 276,280, 504, Pmite ends0f a We end Projecting from a head P P The 280,514 515 287; 287/100;74/895 bridge members have central openings with lateral grooves inwhich the ends of the rod can be introduced and removed, and selectivelylocked by means of positioning members on the rod which engage in thecentral openings and interlock with the bridge members.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,513,926 Paget...............................280/279 X 9Claims,7Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUL 1 1 m SHEET 2 BF 4INVENTOR W 42 0J1, BY '7 P'A'TENTEDJUL 1 1 m2 SHEET t 0F 4 INVENTORAPPARATUS FOR ATTACI-IING A FRONT-WHEEL FORK TO A HEAD PIPE IN ATWO-WHEELED VEHICLE OR THE LIKE BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Thisinvention relates to apparatus for attaching a frontwheel fork to aframe body of a vehicle such as a bicycle, motorcycle, motor-tricycle orthe like.

An object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the above notedtype which makes attaching and detaching possible without requiring anytool or the like. Thus it becomes convenient to carry the fork and bodyseparately in a motorcar such as in the trunk thereof and to assemblethe parts where the motorcar can no longer travel, and then transfer tothe assembled vehicle.

According to the invention there is provided attachment apparatus for afront-wheel fork and a head pipe of a twowheeled vehicle or the likewhich apparatus comprises a steering stem in the head pipe including acore rod having opposite projecting ends, upper and lower bridge memberson the fork with respective central openings and lateral grooves openingexternally thereof for the sideways introduction and removal of theprojecting ends of the core rod into said openings and positioningmembers on the core rod engageable in said openings for securing saidstem in the bridge members, said positioning members and bridge membersincluding interlocking means for holding the members together when thepositioning members and bridge members are secured together.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side view of a motorcycle,in disassembled state with the apparatus according to the inventionemployed thereby,

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a bridge member of a fork portion thereof,

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the apparatus according tothis invention in assembled condition,

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the apparatus in disassembledcondition,

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a modified embodiment inassembled condition,

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the modified embodiment indisassembled condition, and

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a modified bridge member.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to the drawing, numeral 1 denotes a framebody of a two-wheeled vehicle or the like frame body 1 carries a headpipe 2 in which is engaged a steering stem 3. Numeral 4 denotes afront-wheel fork which carries upper and lower bridge members 5 and 6respectively. The steering stem 3 receives a core rod 7 with endsprojecting upwardly and downwardly from stem 3. The core rod 7 isinserted sideways into central openings 8, 9 in the bridge members 5, 6through grooves 8,, 9, so that the bridge members 5, 6 may be appliedonto the upper and lower opposite ends of the steering stem 3,whereafter positioning members 14,,15, on the core rod 7 are engaged inthe central openings 8, 9 of the bridge members 5, 6 so that the bridgemembers 5, 6 may be connected to the steering stem 3.

With this construction, by moving the positioning members 14,, 15,slightly along the core rod 7 or together with the core rod 7 in thelongitudinal direction, the engagement with the central openings 8, 9 ofthe bridge members 5, 6 can be released, and the bridge members 5, 6 andthe steering stem 3 can be introduced or removed sideways through thegrooves 8,, 9,. Accordingly, connection and disconnection between theframe body 1 and the front-wheel fork 4 can be easily and rapidlyefi'ected by merely tightening and loosening the positioning members 14,15, in relation to the bridge members 5, 6. As a means for tighteningand loosening of the positioning members 14,, 15,, a screw or cammechanism is suitable.

The frame body 1 and the front-wheel fork 4 are connected together, atthe central Openings 8, 9 of the bridge members 5,6, through thepositioning members 14,, 15, mounted therein, and the openings 8,9 areof comparatively large diameter so that the connecting portions havehigh rigidity. The positioning members 14,, 15, cannot pass through thegrooves 8, 9, after being engaged, so that the connection between theframe body 1 and the'front-wheel fork 4 cannot come apart once engaged.

To increase the rigidity of the connecting portion between the bridgemembers 5, 6 and the positioning members 14,, 15,, the bridge members 5,6 are provided at the peripheral edges of the central openings 8, 9 withoutwardly directing projecting walls 10, 11, while the positioningmembers 14,, 15, are provided with flange portions 14, 15, havingannular projecting walls 12, 13 which engage with the outer surfaces ofthe projecting walls 10,11 when the positioning members 14,, 15, aremounted in the openings 8, 9. The bridge members 5, 6 are subject to theformation of stress concentrations caused by the grooves 8,, 9,, and thepresence of the projecting walls 10, 11 at the peripheral edges of theopenings 8, 9 serve as a reinforcement. Moreover grooves 8,, 9, areprevented from widening by means of the inner and outer engagementbetween the projecting walls 10, 12 and 11, 13, and thus there is noreduction in the rigidity of the bridge members 5, 6.

The core rod 7 supporting the positioning members 14,, 15, may compriseseparate upper and lower elements, but in the illustrated embodimentsthe rod is a single tubular element passing vertically through thehollow interior of the steering stem 3. Collars 18, 19 each having anouter diameter nearly equal to the inner diameter of the steering stem 3are attached to the core rod 7 within the hollow interior.

The core rod 7 is held in coaxial relationship within the steering stem3 by the collars 18, 19 and, at the same time, the positioning members14,, 15, are kept in coaxial relationship with the steering stem 3 tofacilitate mounting and assembling of the positioning members 14,, 15,not only in the openings 8, 9 of the bridge members 5, 6 but also in theopposite ends of the steering stem 3.

If, as illustrated'in FIGS. 3 and 4, at least one of the collars 18, 19is made of a resilient material such as rubber, synthetic resin, or thelike, to produce a frictional engagement with the inner surface of thesteering stem 3, the core rod 7 is free to rotate and move up and downbut will not fall off, so that after the frame body 1 and thefront-wheel fork 4 have been separated one from another, the positioningmembers 14,, 15, which have been moved along the core rod 7 for suchseparation can be retained at the displaced positions. Accordingly, thepositioning members 14,, 15, are not required to be corrected in theirup and down positions upon the next assembling, and the bridge members5, 6 can be readily and easily applied to the upper and lower ends ofthe steering stem 3.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4, one of the positioningmembers, i.e. the member 14, is attached to rod 7 so as to be rotatablebut longitudinally immovable with respect thereto, while the othermember, i.e. member 15 is threaded onto rod 7. The rod 7 is providedwith an operation handle 16, and the member 15, is locked againstrotation in relation to the bridge member 6 by means of a pin 17. If, inFIG. 3, the handle 16 on rod 7 is turned, the positioning member 15,moves along the pin 17 for separation from the bridge member 6,whereafter the core rod 7 can be moved upward in a direction opposite tothe travel of the positioning member 15,, so that there are formedspaces G,, G, between the positioning members 14,, 15, and the endsurfaces of the steering stem 3 as shown in FIG. 4, whereby the bridgemembers 5, 6 can be removed by sideways movement through the grooves 8,,9,. The construction can be so modified that the core rod 7 is notrotatable in relation to the bridge member while the positioning member15, is rotated by the handle.

Thus, tightening and loosening of the positioning members 14,, 15, forengaging and disengaging the bridge members can be effected solely bythe rotation of the handle 16 and the slight longitudinal slidingmovement thereof, without requiring a tool. Hence, the connecting anddisconnecting operations between the frame body 1 and the front-wheelfork 4 are simple.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6, the positioning members14,, are attached to the opposite ends of the core rod 7 by means ofright and left handed threads and the members 14,, 15 are locked so asnot to be rotatable in relation to the bridge members 5, 6. The core rod7 is held against upward and downward movement by a member 20. Byrotation of the core rod 7, the positioning members 14,, 15 can besimultaneously tightened and loosened for engagement and disengagementrespectively in relation to the bridge members 5, 6, and the connectingand the disconnecting operations between the frame body 1 and thefront-wheel fork 4 can be efiected at high efficiency because engagingand disengaging can be made in half the number of rotations of that inthe embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4.

Additionally, the bridge member can be modified as shown in FIG. 7.Namely, the width of the grooves 8,, 9, can be made equal to thediameter of the central openings 8,9. With the bridge members thusconstructed, it becomes unnecessary, on disassembling, to move thepositioning members 14,, 15 such a distance that they are entirely outof the central openings 8, 9, and it is only necessary to move themembers l4, 15, such that the engagement between the projecting walls10, 11 and the projecting walls l2, 13 is released. Thus the engagementand disengagement operations are simplified.

What is claimed is:

1. Attachment apparatus for a front wheel fork and a head pipe of atwo-wheeled vehicle or the like, said apparatus comprising a steeringstem positioned rotatably in the head pipe, a core rod in said stem andincluding opposite projecting ends, upper and lower bridge members onthe fork with respective central openings and lateral grooves openingexternally thereof for the sideways introduction and removal of theprojecting ends of the core rod into and from said openings, andincluding projecting walls at least partly encircling said openings, andpositioning members on the core rod engageable in said openings in thebridge members and in the stem for adjustably sandwiching the bridgemembers axially against said stem with the bridge members being spacedfrom said head pipe, said positioning members and bridge membersincluding interlocking means for holding the members together againstlateral displacement when the positioning members and bridge members arejuxtaposed.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said interlocking meanscomprises a flange on each positioning member with an annular projectingwall thereon, for engaging the walls on the bridge members.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the groove in each bridgemember has a width which is smaller than the diameter of the centralopening thereof.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the groove in each bridgemember has a width substantially equal to the diameter of the centralopening therein.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the core rod supporting thepositioning members is constituted as a single rod passing verticallythrough the steering stem, said apparatus further comprising collars onsaid rod each having an outer diameter substantially equal to the innerdiameter of the steering stem and attached to the rod within thesteering stem to position the rod coaxially in the stem.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein at least one of the collarsis in frictional engagement with the inner surface of the steering stem.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said core rod is constitutedas a single rod passing vertically through the steering stem, at leastone of said positioning members being threadably engaged on said rod,such that by rotation of either the core rod or the positioning memberthreaded thereon the positioning member can be axially displaced alongthe rod.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein the other of the positioningmembers is secured to the rod for rotation thereon while beinglongitudinally immovable with respect to the rod.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising means for holding the corerod rotatably in said stem and longitudinally immovable, saidpositioning members being threadably engaged on the opposite ends of thecore rod by right and left handed threads so as to be simultaneouslyengaged and disengaged with respect to the central openings of thebridge members by turning the core rod.

1. Attachment apparatus for a front wheel fork and a head pipe of atwo-wheeled vehicle or the like, said apparatus comprising a steeringstem positioned rotatably in the head pipe, a core rod in said stem andincluding opposite projecting ends, upper and lower bridge members onthe fork with respective central openings and lateral grooves openingexternally thereof for the sideways introduction and removal of theprojecting ends of the core rod into and from said openings, andincluding projecting walls at least partly encircling said openings, andpositioning members on the core rod engageable in said openings in thebridge members and in the stem for adjustably sandwiching the bridgemembers axially against said stem with the bridge members being spacedfrom said head pipe, said positioning members and bridge membersincluding interlocking means for holding the members together againstlateral displacement when the positioning members and bridge members arejuxtaposed.
 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said interlockingmeans comprises a flange on each positioning member with an annularprojecting wall thereon, for engaging the walls on the bridge members.3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the groove in each bridgemember has a width which is smaller than the diameter of the centralopening thereof.
 4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the groovein each bridge member has a width substantially equal to the diameter ofthe central opening therein.
 5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 whereinthe core rod supporting the positioning members is constituted as asingle rod passing vertically through the steering stem, said apparatusfurther comprising collars on said rod each having an outer diametersubstantially equal to the inner diameter of the steering stem andattached to the rod within the steering stem to position the rodcoaxially in the stem.
 6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein atleast one of the collars is in frictional engagement with the innersurface of the steering stem.
 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 whereinsaid core rod is constituted as a single rod passing vertically throughthe steering stem, at least one of said positioning members beingthreadably engaged on said rod, such that by rotation of either the corerod or the positioning member threaded thereon the positioning membercan be axially displaced along the rod.
 8. Apparatus as claimed in claim7 wherein the other of the positioning members is secured to the rod forrotation thereon while being longitudinally immovable with respect tothe rod.
 9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising means for holdingthe core rod rotatably in said stem and longitudinally immovable, saidpositioning members being threadably engaged on the opposite ends of thecore rod by right and left handed threads so as to be simultaneouslyengaged and disengaged with respect to the central openings of thebridge members by turning the core rod.